Welcome to my home.
The image on the right shows you inside the front gate. That young Chinese elm tree tree on the right is the one I planted a few minutes after I bought the place in 1998. Excavating a cubic meter for its root ball proved hard when it revealed an asteroid buried right where I wanted the tree to go. Out came the big rock, chip by chip. Good thing it was decomposing granite anyway. The tree's assignment in life is to shade the east side of the house and to drop debris all over a front patio for that "rustic" feel.
After replacing the windows and installing new doorways, roof, and flooring in the 1957-vintage cottage, solar power came next. The photovoltaic system produces electricity to run the lights at night, and to feed the grid during the day. Last July, the electric bill came to only three dollars and change. It's higher during the winter, though.
The house sits in the canyons of the San Gabriel Mountains, at an elevation of 1400 feet above mean sea level. The air here is usually beautiful, fresh and warm. You can easily forget the sometimes smoggy Los Angeles Basin to the south. Most of the modifications I made to the house were for the purpose of welcoming this awesome environment inside. Fresh air is my religion!
Go left, and you're in the front room. Follow the meandering path in the background, and it takes you around to the apartment.